A Calming Influence
by scrapmom
Summary: An angry Morgan blames himself for something out of his control, while Reid tries to calm him down. Pre-slash. Don't like, don't read!


A/N this story is pre-slash, Morgan and Reid. If this isn't your kind of story, please turn back now. This is your last warning. If it is your cup of tea, please enjoy with plenty of sugar!

A Calming Influence

Morgan sat at the table, shoulders hunched, the tension evident. His hands clenched and unclenched, as he tried to control his breathing. His right leg was shaking, causing the chair to squeak randomly. The team watched him through the window, knowing he needed time to calm himself down.

But, Reid had other ideas, and opened the door to let himself into the conference room. He slid in quietly, and closed the door behind him. He looked at the team through the window and gave them a nod, letting them know he'd take care of Morgan, before closing the blinds.

He knew Morgan wanted to be alone, but he also knew that Morgan was blaming himself and he wasn't going to let that happen. So, he approached his best friend carefully, knowing how on edge he was. Before he reached the table where Morgan sat, he heard a warning, "Don't."

Reid, not being one to heed warnings, continued to move closer. He saw Morgan tense up even more and gave another warning, "Leave me alone, Reid." His voice was gravely, like he hadn't spoken in days. His entire demeanor was closed off, and Reid could feel the tension rolling off his best friend. But that still didn't deter him.

He stopped beside the tense agent, and spoke quietly, "Morgan."

He only got the one word out before Morgan slammed his fist on the table and yelled, "Dammit Reid, I said leave me the fuck alone!"

The sudden movement startled the younger agent, but he didn't move from his place beside his friend. Still not moving, he replied with a simple, "No."

He saw Morgan's shoulders harden even more when he heard Reid's response. He knew it was possible that Morgan would hurt him if he kept pushing, but he also knew that if he left his best friend alone, he might do more damage to himself, or someone else, and Reid wasn't about to let that happen. He'd had feelings for his best friend for years now, but knew it was unrequited. But that didn't temper his feelings. They just continued to grow with each passing year. He was ok with it, though. As long as he had Morgan in his life, in whatever capacity, he would be grateful.

"I'm warning you," he said, through gritted teeth, "If you don't leave now, I can't be responsible for my actions. So, just get the fuck out...now!"

"I am not leaving you alone," Reid replied softly, his voice trying to sooth Morgan. Knowing it could be a mistake, he reached out and gently put his hand on his friends shoulder. Before he knew what was happening, Morgan had grabbed his wrist and wrenched it sideways, causing Reid to cry out in pain. Morgan didn't register his friends pain, but rather continued his assault by pushing the young genius hard, into the wall behind him.

This knocked the wind it of the young agent, causing him to lose his breath momentarily, but Morgan was so full of rage, he didn't notice. His pushed Reid's wrist, still in his hand, above his head, and put his other hand beside Reid's head on the wall. Morgan's eyes were full of rage, and he was breathing hard, his face only inches away from Reid's. "Why can't you just leave me alone, huh? Always have to be the good guy and save the day. What are you going to do now, genius?"

"The better question is, what are you going to do now, Morgan?" Reid shot back. "Are you going to hurt me? Go ahead. I know you want to hurt someone, hit something. Here I am, go ahead. But I'm not letting you leave his room until you've calmed down, because I don't trust you to not go out there and hurt someone else, or even yourself. I would never forgive myself if I let that happen."

Morgan laughed, but it sounded more like an evil grunt. "I have you pinned to the wall and I'm twice your size. How do you think you you'll stop me?" He growled.

"Oh, Morgan, you've know me long enough to know that I don't need strength to stop someone bigger than me." His voice was still calm, but the undertone spoke volumes.

Something flashed in Morgan's eyes, but was gone in an instant, the anger returning full force. Reid had seen the change, though and used that. He raised his hand not being held by Morgan, and placed it gently on the older mans cheek.

Morgan flinched, but didn't pull away. Encouraged, Reid let his hand slide down to the space between his neck and shoulder and gently massaged the tense muscles, as he began to speak. "They are fine, Derek. Everyone is fine." He felt his friend tense up again, and quickly continued, keeping his voice low and calm, while continuing to massage his neck and shoulder. "This was not your fault. They are safe now, and he can't hurt them. It's not your fault. It's not your fault." As he continued his quiet speech, he could feel Morgan begin to relax, and saw the darkness in his eyes slowly fade away.

Morgan let go of the wrist he had pinned above Reid's head, making him gasp at the pain he felt upon release. Morgan's brow furrowed, and Reid quickly recovered, sliding his hurt hand around Morgan's other shoulder in support. The move seemed to appease Morgan, and he let out a deep breath, that resembled a sob, as silent tears started rolling down his face.

"That's it, Derek," said the younger agent." "Let it go. I'm here. I got you."

With those words, Morgan felt his legs give out, and both men slid to the floor, Reid's hands still on Morgan's shoulders, twisting him as they went down, to that they ended up with Reid's back still against the wall, and Morgan sitting between his legs with his back to his friends chest. Reid used his good hand to grab Morgan's head, pulling it against his shoulder as the older agent let go. Morgan turned himself around so that his legs were thrown over Reid's, and he buried his face in the geniuses neck, the tears soaking into his shirt.

As Reid began slowly rocking him, bringing his other arm around him and pulling him even closer, he continued to whisper soft encouraging word. "It's ok now. I've got you. I'm here, Derek, I'm here. That's it, let it out." He was so lost in comforting Morgan, that he didn't realize he was kissing the older mans head, in between whispering his soft words. He just kept rocking, whispering, kissing and stroking his shoulder and back until he felt Morgan go completely lax in his arms and the sobbing morphed into quiet sniffling.

Morgan was essentially sitting on Reid's lap, curled up in Reid's arms, and he had never felt safer. All the anger faded and all that was left was relief. When he had gotten the call from his old friend on the force that his mom and sister's had been taken hostage at the bank, he went ballistic. There had been a string of robberies in the Chicago area, and the BAU had been called to consult. So far, there had been no fatalities, but the unsub seemed to be escalating, having shot the teller in the previous robbery.

Morgan was the agent assigned to the file, and he didn't think the threat assessment was high enough to warrant the teams assistance on site, so he worked with the local PD over conference calls to give them a profile. The next day, his mom and sisters were on the way to the mall, when they went into their local bank to get some cash. While they were in line, the bank was hit by the serial robber. One of the tellers pushed the panic button as soon as she realized what was happening, alerting the police. Unfortunately, the robber panicked and took all the people inside hostage.

Luckily, using the profile Morgan had given them, the police were able to talk the robber into surrendering without any casualties. But that didn't make Morgan feel any better, and of course, he blamed himself. Every though his help had led to an easy capture, the robber had still held the hostages for an hour before being talked down. Morgan knew his mom and sisters had been scared and felt like it was his fault. Hotch told him that he would have made the same recommendations as his subordinate, but that didn't help Morgan.

After speaking to his mom and sisters, he felt worse instead is better. All he could think about was how his father had been killed right in front of him, and he couldn't save him. He felt like he had, again, let his family down, which is what led him to his angry breakdown after the wrap up meeting. Reid knew what Morgan had thinking, and also knew he needed to calm him down. That is what led the two men to their current position on the floor of the conference room.

Reid could feel Morgan's body relax, and knew he had stopped crying, and was surprised he wasn't pulling away. So, he halted the rocking and encouraging words, but kept rubbing his back with his good arm. His left wrist rested on Morgan's knees as he held him, and Morgan suddenly realized that it looked swollen and bruised. The older agent cradled Reid's wrist in his hands and tried to speak. "Did I..." He couldn't finish, a fresh sob building up in this throat, as he tried to pull away.

Reid just pulled him closer with his good arm and held on tight. "It's fine, Derek. I'm fine. Really." He felt, rather than heard, Morgan's silent tears start again. " Derek, listen to me, all that matters is that you are ok. I just wanted to be here for you, like you've been for me."

"But," he paused, trying to get his voice under control. "I hurt you, Pretty Boy." Another sob. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."

Reid leaned his cheek down on Morgan's head and placed another gentle kiss on his forehead. "I know. You didn't mean to. You were just so angry. That's why I couldn't let you go. I knew what I was doing. You would have gone out, looking for a drink and a fight. I wouldn't have been able to live with myself if anything had happened to you, and I had let you go."

Morgan lifted his head from is resting spot on Reid's shoulder and looked into the geniuses eyes. What he saw nearly stopped his heart. Reid's eyes were wet with tears, and he saw total, unconditional love. He knew then why Reid had done want he had. He was protecting him from himself. He broke eye contact to look down at the young mans likely broken wrist. His thumbs caressed the bruising skin, and he lifted it gently, as if to examine it. Instead, he placed soft kisses on it, starting at the base and continuing around the wrist, down his hand, and back up.

Reid's breath caught in his throat the moment Morgan's lips touched his wrist. As his best friend continued a slow, sweet assault on his injured wrist, Reid's breathing became more erratic. It was such an intimate gesture, that it made Reid's heart ache. He then realized that Morgan's kisses did not stop at his wrist, but continued up his arm. Frozen, the young genius didn't know what to do, but watched as the older agent moved farther and farther up his arm, planting soft, wet kisses as he went. He paused for a moment at the shoulder, then moved to his neck and continued his assault.

Morgan's soft lips on his neck snapped Reid back into consciousness, and he moved his good arm around Morgan's neck, holding on, and waiting for him to reach the final destination. The kisses became longer and wetter as he continued up the younger mans neck, pausing to suck on a few places of interest. Eventually, he made it to his best friends cheek, then beyond. His eyes caught Reid's, and was stunned at the raw emotion he saw in them. The geniuses pupils were blown wide open, and the hunger was unmistakable.

Leaning in that last inch, he finally reached his prize, pressing his lips to Reid's, as Reid moaned something that sounded like 'finally.'

What started off as slow, chaste kisses, soon turned onto desperate, needy ones. Both men taking and giving, wanting and needing. Neither one were sure how long they sat there, making out, and just enjoying each others mouths, but a noise outside the conference room walls got their attention, and they reluctantly pulled back, resting their foreheads together, content to just breathe each other air, stealing a few chaste kisses in between.

"God, Pretty Boy, I have been wanting to do that for a long time."

"Really?"

"Yea, but I was stupid, and afraid. I didn't want to admit I had those kind of feeling for you. But I do. And I can say, without a doubt that I want to do that again and again...with you!"

"Oh Morgan, I..."

"Hey, I heard you call me Derek before. Do it again."

"Derek, I..." Before he could finish his sentence, his lips were crushed again, his mouth mapped out by Derek's tongue.

"I love how my name sounds coming out of your mouth," he replied, after kissing the genius senseless.

"If I get that reaction every time, you can bet I won't call you anything else!" He grinned.

"Only outside of the office, Pretty Boy."

"Oh, so you can call me Pretty Boy anytime, but I can't call you Derek? That not fair," he mock pouted.

Morgan reached out and bit the young geniuses lip, causing him to squeak. "I've been calling you that for a long time, and I don't plan on changing it. I do promise to call you Spence only in the privacy of our own homes, though."

"I'd rather you call me Pretty Boy." He replied, looking into Morgan's eyes and letting him know without words how much that name meant to him.

"Alright Pretty Boy," he said, his voice taking on a husky tone. "What do you say we get out of here?"

"Your place or mine?" Reid replied, surprising Morgan, who chuckled.

"Hospital first, then my place." Reid groaned. "Hey, I plan on spending the next 48 hours showing you just how sorry I am about your wrist, how grateful I am for your help today , and how much I love you, Pretty Boy."


End file.
